2 se of Minco we were shooting a wall cloud moving over the town.
We got onto the unpaved grid south of the Canadian because US 81 south was stop and go. A few of the locals had similar ideas and we were seeing a steady stream of cars moving south down the gravel as well. Several of them stopped and asked me what to do, some blocking traffic behind them. "I was told to drive south. Where do I go?" "Where is the tornado?" "What do I do now?"
I-44:
Tornado warned storms moved over several points of gridlock traffic caused by bottlenecks on Canadian River crossings. The bumper to bumper traffic was trying to move south in an evacuation attempt. It was a dangerous situation, and while a lot of factors went into creating that situation, it was heavily influenced by Morgan's words.
Should Morgan be dammed and reviled for that? No, I don't think so. He was trying to warn folks and get them out of the way. "What if..." The main tornado could have kept heading east, and Morgan could have easily saved lives had it hit Yukon and people in that town got south in time. In reality the tornado stalled and dissipated just after his words that were interpreted as an evacuation order were acted upon. Other tornadoes followed, but they posed much less of a threat than the original and largely stayed clear of the snarled river crossings. "What if..." On the other hand, instead of hitting Yukon the tornado could have tracked toward Mustang, striking potentially hundreds sitting in their cars waiting to cross the Canadian on Route 4. Tail-End-Charlie in the complex could have dropped a violent tornado on top of Union City as hundreds were trying to scramble south on US 81. I don't think Morgan could see ahead of time that evacuating traffic would create huge bottlenecks and traffic jams at the river crossings or that training supercells in the complex would pass over the evacuating traffic. However, it's possibilities like these and the dangers that they create, that are exactly why short order, mid or post tornado evacuations are a mistake. The intent was good. The dangers it created later revealed it as a mistake. It's luck the dangers weren't realized, and that they weren't realized does not mean the evacuation was not a mistake.
We all make mistakes and will continue to make them, and that situation had a lot of dammed if you do, dammed if you don't possibilities. We shouldn't be too critical of Morgan for that. I really think he was trying to do the best that he could with the situation.
However, it's 5 months after the fact now and Morgan is still bitterly, even arrogantly defending his actions without acknowledging the potential dangers they created. He's deflecting the blame, masking the issue with dubious claims like "El Reno had 8 times the destructive force of Joplin", and cherry picking quotes that serve his cause while ignoring the specifics of the situation. Sure 35 S was snarled 41 minutes after your words were broadcast. What about the stop and go traffic in Mustang heading for Route 4 15 minutes after your words. What about US 81, 44, 240 and the other highways that were blocked?
I disagree that Morgan should be respected for defending his actions because it's done without tact and for self serving purposes. You have to ignore the situation not to see the dangers the evacuation created, and by doing so well after the fact, Morgan makes it clear that his main interest lies in his own image. He ignores important issues that affected the safety of thousands just to claim, "I was right!" It's selfish. The arrogance displayed with his comments reflects that. If Morgan is to be reviled for anything it's that he fails to acknowledge the repercussions of his actions for the purpose of saving face.
James Spann shared a letter with the viewers about a girl who was killed as the result of his actions during a tornado outbreak. No doubt he saved many lives that day, but it's these failures that haunt him and make him strive to do better. Mike Morgan shared a comment from a random YouTube user that agreed with his own self image that he is right and should not be criticized.
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